This is a wile unsubstantiated theory to a question that I don't see asked, but which ties in a few well known matters -- a Chiddish Chinam.

How is it that a daughter of Pharoah, in a time when Egyptians hated the Jewish people, would have mercy upon Moshe as a 3 month old baby whom she realizes is a Jewish baby boy avoiding her father's decree?

Here's a recap of the events leading up to the decree, including a special 1-day increase in the scope of the decree:

The Jewish people grew and became numerous in the eyes of the Egyptians, who became worried and enslaved the Jewish people.

Pharoah consulted with his astrologers and learned that there was going to be a boy born who free the Jewish people. One might well assume that this would be a Jewish boy. Pharoah decreed that all Jewish baby boys were to be killed.

But on the day that Moshe Rabbeinu was born, which was 3 month's premature, the astrologers informed Pharoah that the redeemer boy had been born that day, but their divination was getting an unclear signal, that they could not be certain whether this redeemer was an Israelite or an Egyptian.

So Pharoah decreed for that one day, all Egyptian baby bows were also to be killed.

And that's perhaps all we know until 3 months or so later.

I wish to present a theory as to what else might have been at play.

Perhaps, just like the plague of the firstborn impacted Pharoah's own household, Pharoah's own household was impacted... perhaps he had a grandson born that day through his daughter Basya?

There is a syndrome where a new mother might, lo aleinu, lose her baby. Sometimes it happens that such women sneak into modern hospitals and steal a replacement baby to whom they transfer their love and nurturing. And of course in Shlomo HaMelech's time there were two women living in the same house who each had children, and one had died.

Thus when Basya saw an available baby boy to adopt, she became committed to adoption eventhough her own father might want her to not come to love a Jewish baby, and eventhough she as an Egyptian might have a propensity to hate Jews.

And recall that during several of the various plagues, Pharoah would commit himself to letting the Jewish people go out to serve G-d, but would then come to reverse his decree. This was no Achashveirosh who worshipped the power of his office to such a degree that he could never change his mind. And in fact, if a problem was out of sight, it was out of mind.

So perhaps to some degree, Pharoah, especialy seeing his own daughter in such emotional distress, may have even come to regret the decree against his grandson.

Thus he may have had compassion on his daughter when she found a baby, and even was willing to overlook some aspects of the situation --- surely he had already solved his little problem 3 months earlier.

Note: we seem to have a halacha that if a woman is converting to Judaism and will be getting married right after, she must wait 3 months before getting married so that if she gets pregnant right after marriage there will be no doubt about the order of events.

Coincidentally, Moshe was born 3 months premature. His professional midwife mother Yocheved perhaps knew from experience that 3 months premature did not bode so well for survival, but since Moshe arrived intact, but small, he was recognized as especialially good, and he was easy to hide.

But 3 months later, Moshe would now be just about the exact same size as a newborn full term baby boy, and in a grieving mother's eyes, a perfect match for her loss.
Similarly if Pharoah asked questions about age based on sizing, he would have been satisfied that this 40-week bone-development age baby could not be 3 months old... or could he?

So all these pieces can be put together to see how the stage was set for a grievig daughter of Pharoah to go against her father's principles, Pharoah himself might change his mind as to a prior matter, and Hashem's plan for the Jewish people to be redeemed by a Jewish boy who will have more of the leadership qualities expected to be picked up in a royal household, and none of the limitations of a slave mentality.

But also who had his entire womb and wet-nursing experience completely Jewish, knew that the Jewish people were his people, and thus knew that he was no Egyptian.

Hashem's plan for our redeemer was thus hidden from Pharoah in plain sight.

I'm going off on a tangent here, but one thing you wrote set off red flags in my head. I had never read about the Pharoah's astrologers' two amazing and correct predictions. How in the world would ASTROLOGERS - who have neither G-d nor science on their side - have known these things?

The only thing that would remotely make sense is that the G-d of the Jews sent these predictions to the astrologers so as to mislead them about the true size/birthdate of Moses. (But it doesn't TOTALLY make sense, because why would G- d cause them to worry about a Jewish leader at all? Without any knowledge, NONE of the Jewish newborns would have been killed. ...OR, was the astrologers' "prophecy" about a Jewish leader a guess, and then G-d, wishing to avoid year after year of the killing of Jewish newborns, gave the astrologers the SECOND prophecy, and had Moses born right away and had him born prematurely so as to mislead the Pharoah as to his birthdate?

Actually, I never learned about Moses' being premature OR about it being obvious that he was Jewish. Were Jewish boys in Pharoah's kingdom allowed to be circumcised? (I did always think it was unusual that the Pharoah's daughter so willingly took in a baby that quite well MIGHT have been Jewish - especially knowing about the order to kill them. Your reasoning about possible recent loss makes sense.

I imagine Pharohs daughter was praying for a child and her circumstances where in her favor at the time - perhpas she wasnted a child so much that when Moses came floating past, she saw him as a gift from g_d and blinded by her disire to have a child, didn't care whether he was jewish, or not - and he was probably pretty cute baby too!

Yes, that sounds plausible to me. We each make our decisions based on how we are hanging together at the time. This is the personal side of the matter.

quote:

Originally posted by Katja:
I imagine Pharohs daughter was praying for a child and her circumstances where in her favor at the time - perhpas she wasnted a child so much that when Moses came floating past, she saw him as a gift from g_d and blinded by her disire to have a child, didn't care whether he was jewish, or not - and he was probably pretty cute baby too!

quote:

Were Jewish boys in Pharoah's kingdom allowed to be circumcised? (I did always think it was unusual that the Pharoah's daughter so willingly took in a baby that quite well MIGHT have been Jewish - especially knowing about the order to kill them. Your reasoning about possible recent loss makes sense.

a good question. Egyptians themselves were circumcised, (which doesn't answer the question).

quote:

How in the world would ASTROLOGERS - who have neither G-d nor science on their side - have known these things?

Please recall the pasuk of Yoseif (pretending to be an Egyptian) to his brothers regarding the "divination" cup which he had Binyamin framed for stealing...

Similarly, there is a story I think by Dovid HaMelech about consulting a woman who practiced some sort of divination.

Apparently some avodah zorah might work for the goyim, but we are prohibited from doing such things, and we don't have any need to.

Just like Pharoah's magicians were said to be able to reproduce all of the plagues, except lice, and perform signs (being able to turn their staffs into snakes), apparently they did have some abilities to learn these matters.

quote:

Were Jewish boys in Pharoah's kingdom allowed to be circumcised?

The tribe of Levi surely maintained Bris Milah even while in Egypt since we know the maintained it also while in the desert.

quote:

Originally posted by Paulette:
I'm going off on a tangent here, but one thing you wrote set off red flags in my head. I had never read about the Pharoah's astrologers' two amazing and correct predictions. How in the world would ASTROLOGERS - who have neither G-d nor science on their side - have known these things?

Actually, there are cases brought in the Talmud about non-Jewish astrologers (not the kind who have columns in the newspapers today!) who accurately predicted certain events.

I'd like to address the question as to how Batya, the daughter of Pharoah, knew Moses was a Jewish child. What I am about to write is part of a beautiful Drasha I heard last week.

When Yocheved (Moses' mother) realised she could no longer hide Moses from the Egyptians and that his life was in grave danger, she decided as a last resort to leave matters to fate, as it were, and she therefore placed him in the basket and floated him down the Nile.

The Torah tells us that Miriam, his sister, stood by to watch what would happen to her brother. This demonstrated that she had an empathy with Moses and his the trouble he was in. She wanted to be a partner, as it were, in this trouble.

Contrast this with Hagar (an Egyptian) who sent out into the desert by Abraham with her son, Ishmael. Ishmael was dying of thirst so she sent him away from her as, she said, "I don't want to see the boy die." She didn't have that empathy as Miriam did.

When Batya found Moses the Torah first refers to him as a "yeled" a boy and then it says, "Behold a lad was crying." Why the change from "boy" to "lad"? The Baal HaTurim explains that the "lad" was in fact Aaron, Moses' 3 year old brother, who was also standing there and crying over his brother's plight.

So when Batya saw Miriam and Aaron (whom she presumably knew were Jewish) standing there with such concern for this baby she came to the conclusion that the baby must be Jewish, for if he had been Egyptian no one would have had such concern (as evidenced by Hagar).

Wow!
The most beautiful drasha I've ever heard.

Actually, Shemos Torah 2:6 says that Pharaoh's daughter says that this is one of the Hebrew babies, when she draws him from the water (hence his name which means drawn i.e. from water).

Yocheved

So she knew immediately. As to whether she knew via circumcision, Aaron's presence, or Miriam's request afterward to take him to a Hebrew nurse-maid, we don't know.

Yocheved